Revision as of 22:54, 17 July 2007

A number of manufacturers produce modular components designed for embedded systems. Some of these components are suitable for a hobbyist to put together a modular phone. This page is intended as a starting-point for building an OpenMoko compatible phone.

The major problem with this approach is that the resultant phone tends to be larger than a normal phone.

This is because though they may be designed to be compact, internal connectors add lots of volume compared to a PCB, where everything can be in one unit.

Capabilities wise, this compares well with the Neo - there is no accelerated graphics and the screen resolution is smaller, but it does have EDGE and a faster processor. Otherwise specs are similar.

From Sketchup models supplied by Gumstix, the size will be around 120 x 67 x 20mm. This is the smallest cuboid into which the main components (motherboard, WiFi, Goliath, screen) will fit. The case will add approx. 2mm to this - battery, microSD and other components should fit into voids between the main circuit boards.

Weight information will be included here as soon as the specs are released by Gumstix.

Where relevant, all components listed have Linux kernel modules supplied by their manufacturer.

Other resources

Home Brew Mobile Phone Club have a site devoted to build-it-yourself mobile phones, based upon Gumstix motherboards. They have schematics, case designs and details of suitable components from many sources.

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A number of manufacturers produce modular components designed for embedded systems. Some of these components are suitable for a hobbyist to put together a modular phone. This page is intended as a starting-point for building an OpenMoko compatible phone.

The major problem with this approach is that the resultant phone tends to be larger than a normal phone.

This is because though they may be designed to be compact, internal connectors add lots of volume compared to a PCB, where everything can be in one unit.

Capabilities wise, this compares well with the Neo - there is no accelerated graphics and the screen resolution is smaller, but it does have EDGE and a faster processor. Otherwise specs are similar.

From Sketchup models supplied by Gumstix, the size will be around 120 x 67 x 20mm. This is the smallest cuboid into which the main components (motherboard, WiFi, Goliath, screen) will fit. The case will add approx. 2mm to this - battery, microSD and other components should fit into voids between the main circuit boards.

Weight information will be included here as soon as the specs are released by Gumstix.

Where relevant, all components listed have Linux kernel modules supplied by their manufacturer.

Other resources

Home Brew Mobile Phone Club have a site devoted to build-it-yourself mobile phones, based upon Gumstix motherboards. They have schematics, case designs and details of suitable components from many sources.